Wednesday, 23 January 2013

It's sad, but not a surprise, that Cornwall Council's cabinet today reiterated their decision to recommend the ending of the current council tax benefit scheme and the imposition of a £250 or more tax rise on 26,000 of the poorest families in Cornwall.

In advance of the meeting they put out a list of the cuts that they said would have to be made if they did not follow the path they have. As I have argued before, this is scare-mongering of the worst sort.

The list was produced by officers acting on behalf of the cabinet and if they really were the only options available then I certainly would not be promoting the option that I am.

But these are not the areas that would really be hit if the council was required to make additional savings. They are merely the straw men being set up to justify a wholly unpalatable decision.

And there are many other areas of discretionary spending which have not been listed.

This council does not have to spend more than a million pounds a month on consultants and agency staff - but they do. This council did not have to give £50,000 to Plymouth to support its world cup bid nor hire taxis to ferry tea and coffee between offices - but they did.

However the cabinet refused to listen or consider alternatives and chose to repeat their recommendation to full council next Tuesday. The Liberal Democrats will, once again, be seeking an alternative.

Yep - they are planning on charging full council tax for second homes (good decision) and I proposed using this cash to alleviate the new council tax benefit burdens. But the Tories want to have their cake and charge the poor for it.

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